2022 SartonWomen’s Award Finalist for Best Memoir
"A moving and frank remembrance of love and loss." — Kirkus Reviews
“[A] beautifully told, heart-rending story . . . Anyone caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or another dementia should find valuable lessons and inspiration here.”
—Robert B. Santulli, MD, author of The Emotional Journey of the Alzheimer’s Family and The Alzheimer’s Family: Helping Caregivers Cope
From the award-winning bestselling author of books about autistic and learning-disabled children, Mary MacCracken, comes an engaging memoir of love, marriage—and Alzheimer’s. Braving divorce to be together, Cal and Mary help each other overcome setbacks in their work. Cal becomes a renowned inventor; Mary’s books are published to much acclaim. It seems nothing can stop them.
Then Alzheimer’s strikes. Always a fighter, Cal vows to beat his disease, while Mary finds ways to sustain their loving life together, devising ways to help Cal as he falters. She herself is helped by good doctors, social workers, and many friends—a whole community of care.
Still, all the support in the world can’t stop Cal’s decline. He goes missing at night, flees his daycare program repeatedly, and must finally go to a memory care unit. Even then, he and Mary share bits of happiness. In the end, they fail to beat Alzheimer’s. But it doesn’t win either, as their love persists all through and beyond their battle.
Poignant and inspiring, The Memory of All That is a beautifully written love story that offers guidance and comfort to those dealing with dementia, or any of life’s challenges.
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Earlier books by Mary MacCracken
More Praise for The Memory of All That
“A moving account of one couple’s vibrant loving relationship, their courage in facing Alzheimer’s, and their fierce unwillingness to abandon any moment of shared happiness before the end. This poignant narrative also offers ways to handle the problems and hard decisions faced by caregivers and their families.”
— Nancy Dubler, LL.B, author of Alzheimer’s Dementia: Dilemmas in Clinical Research and Ethics on Call: A Medical Ethicist Shows How to Take Charge of Life-and-Death Choices
“[A] drama of a passionately committed relationship transformed by suffering and grace. Ultimately, Mary MacCracken shows us, the true triumph of the spirit is found in the resolve to love more fully in the face of certain debilitation and death. I was haunted by this poignant memoir.”
— Alicia Hokanson, award-winning author of Perishable World and Mapping The Distance
“A generous and stirring memoir, framed not as tragedy but as a chronicle of married love—with no small share of laughter. Readers facing a similar journey will welcome this book with relief and hope.”
— Christine Hemp, author of Wild Ride Home: Love, Loss, and a Little White Horse
“A roadmap for sustaining love in the face of inevitable loss for any of us. Mary MacCracken is a skilled storyteller who knows how to turn this tale of wrenching heartbreak into a surprisingly uplifting memoir.”
— Jan Maher, award-winning author of The Persistence of Memory and Other Stories, Earth as It Is, and Heaven, Indiana
"MacCracken writes with honest poignancy in beautiful prose…. [This book] will help anyone who is dealing with Alzheimer’s…[or] interested in learning more about the disease and its profound effect on families."
—Shawn LaTorre, StoryCircle Book Reviews
About MARY MACCRACKEN
MARY MACCRACKEN, an internationally bestselling author, has written four books about her work with autistic and learning-disabled children: Circle of Children, Lovey, City Kid, and Turn-About Children. Her latest memoir tells the story of her long marriage to her brilliant husband Cal—and of losing him to Alzheimer’s. Her earlier books have been published in fourteen countries and the first two were made into movies for television, starring the actress Jane Alexander. They have recently been republished (the first and last under new titles, The Lost Children and A Safe Place for Joey) and still attract a wide readership. Mary spent her last years with her husband, Cal, an inventor with eighty patents, at Kendal at Hanover, a Continuous Care Retirement Community in Hanover, New Hampshire, and the decade after his death writing about their experiences dealing with his disease. She died shortly before finishing her last book, The Memory of All That, which was completed and seen through publication by her daughter, Susan Thistle.